Limelight creates new jobs and boosts the area's economy

Old Trafford’s Limelight helps create over 200 local jobs, apprenticeships and training places and helps boost local economy by £320,000

New figures show that the Limelight health and well-being hub, a joint Trafford Housing Trust / Willmott Partnership Homes development in Old Trafford, has resulted in over 40 Trafford residents finding employment or an apprenticeship and a further 132 taking up training opportunities.

Limelight has supported a further 35 apprenticeships through the Shared Apprenticeship Scheme from around the North West of England.

In addition, Willmott Partnership Homes, the housing specialist for Willmott Dixon, has hosted workshops attended by around 800 students from local schools and colleges across Old Trafford. The £20m scheme has also bought nearly £436,000-worth of goods and services from local businesses, and has awarded major contracts to four local social enterprises.

Recently, Willmott Partnership Homes was recognised nationally for the positive impact Limelight has had on the local community with a prestigious Considerate Constructors Scheme award. This was in recognition for the way the developer had taken a highly community and safety-focussed approach to the Limelight development.

Specifically, the project scored a perfect 10 out of 10 in the ‘respect for the community’ category, and inspectors praised the way the company had actively engaged with local residents, putting their wellbeing and convenience at the forefront of all construction activity.

A commitment to adding value to the community through a number of skills, employment and local procurement initiatives were also highlighted in the judges’ report, as were projects delivered with local primary schools and community groups to promote health and safety and environmental best practice in the neighbourhood.

In conclusion, the Considerate Constructors report stated: “The project’s interaction with the local community has continued to develop to the point where they now seem embedded as a positive force in it.”

And all of this before the scheme, which will include a community centre, a library and a Primary Care centre for the north of Trafford, is even open to the public too.

Graeme Scott, director of Trafford Housing Trust’s Developer division

Since the very beginning, Limelight has been a project developed in genuine partnership with the local community. It’s therefore great that the Willmott Partnership Homes site team have been recognised nationally for the way they have positively engaged with residents with a similar philosophy to our own, and a commitment to bring benefits to everyone affected by the build.

Neil Rowbottom, Senior Build Manager from Willmott Partnership Homes

These new figures reflecting the positive economic, employment and educational impact we have already had in Old Trafford are fantastic. I’m also very proud of the way both we and the Trust have been able to deliver such significant social value before the scheme is even complete.

The recent Considerate Construction award also means the world to us as it involved much collaboration and team work from everyone involved in the project. To get a perfect ten in the ‘respect for the community’ category was amazing, as we have strived to add real value to the people of Old Trafford, since the project began in 2015.

Limelight will be open to the public later this year. Once operational it will be one of the UK’s most progressive and accessible community spaces - offering an integrated approach to health and wellbeing services, education and employment resources, leisure and social activities, and the provision of advice and support.